Although "weird fiction" has been chiefly used as a historical description for works through the 1930s, the term has also been increasingly used since the 1980s, sometimes to describe slipstream fiction that blends horror, fantasy, and science fiction.

The true weird tale has something more than secret murder, bloody bones, or a sheeted form clanking chains according to rule. A certain atmosphere of breathless and unexplainable dread of outer, unknown forces must be present; and there must be a hint, expressed with a seriousness and portentousness becoming its subject, of that most terrible conception of the human brain--a malign and particular suspension or defeat of those fixed laws of Nature which are our only safeguard against the assaults of chaos and the daemons of unplumbed space.

Although Lovecraft was one of the few early 20th-century writers to describe his work as "weird fiction,"[1] the term has enjoyed a contemporary revival in New Weird fiction. For example, China Miéville often refers to his work as weird fiction.[8] Many horror writers have also situated themselves within the weird tradition, including Clive Barker, who describes his fiction as fantastique,[9] and Ramsey Campbell,[10] whose early work was deeply influenced by Lovecraft.[11]

It has been suggested by some authors, predominantly Ann and Jeff VanderMeer, that Weird fiction has seen a recent resurgence, a phenomenon they term the New Weird. Tales which fit this category, as well as extensive discussion of the phenomenon, appear in their anthology The New Weird.[17]